How to Recruit and Retain Top Contact Center Talent

The Great Resign has given way to The Great Recruitment, as companies vye fiercely in the job market for qualified personnel. We recently put out a call to contact center thought leaders to get their thoughts on what could give contact center companies the edge. Here are three responses:

Sell Your Company in Creative Ways

Sangeeta Bhatnagar, Principal, SB Global Human Capital Solutions

The challenge to find top-tiered, engaged talent has never been tougher than at this point in time. I have recruited for close to 20 years and I have never seen such challenges to find engaged talent. In the past, a simple post on any job board would get the recruitment team a flood of resumes. This is no longer the case.

Employers must change their corporate mindset because there has been a major shift in employee expectations. Organizations must adapt to employee expectations if they wish to compete in the new marketplace. Long recruitment cycles, and poor communication between resume submittal, phone screen, and interview are no longer acceptable. Candidates are interviewing organizations, not the other way around.

Please note, that regardless of the strategy or technique you use to recruit new hires, every person in the organization must be mindful to serve and act as an ambassador of the company. How people are treated at every touchpoint will impact the quantity and quality of people you recruit. We know the future of work is human, so putting the human in every part of the recruitment process will be required to attract and retain top talent.

Some effective recruitment techniques that have been used in the past and are now more prevalent are:

• Create engaging and unique job postings instead of the same old cookie cutter postings. What is unique about your company? What can you do for the new hire? What sets your company apart from the others?
• Be upfront and fully transparent! Highlight the positives but also some of the must-haves (mindset, hours, expectations).
• Don’t be afraid to highlight all that your company has accomplished. Third party stats are wonderful!
• Social media campaigns to highlight your companies’ pluses, which are short, fun and engaging, will help you attract passive job seekers. The key to retaining the new hires will be to live up to the hype of the marketing videos.
• Recruit within college groups and community organizations that foster diversity. This will help attract people from diverse groups. Diversity is one pillar necessary to build overall employee engagement so that you retain and engage those you recruit.
• Host fun open house recruitment events so that you can meet many potential new hires in a more relaxed setting, and so they can also get a feel for the corporate culture.
• Empower existing employees to share social media/marketing packages with substantial referral bonuses.

Don’t Forget About Networking

Mike Aoki, President, Reflective Keynotes

I spoke with Sandi Young, vice president of human resources at Clarion, a Canadian company in the medical services field. Sandi's advice for fellow recruiters is: "Networking! Business and social networking is critical – it always has been! It is now more challenging to stand out and be noticed. Build your networking skills along with your company brand. What sets your business apart? Learn how to tell your company story and make it intriguing. Why should the applicant consider the opportunity at your company?"

Sandi brings up a really good point. Recruiters have long been used to a "buyer's market" where they hold the power and candidates are grateful just to get a job offer. Now, it's a "seller's market" where, according to one study I read, there are two job openings for every one candidate. Now recruiters have to "sell" candidates on their companies.

Improve Employee Experience to Retain and Recruit

Nate Brown, Senior Director of CX at Arise, Co-Founder of CX Accelerator

There is no shortcut to recruiting great talent. Amazing people are attracted to amazing companies. Your best employees, when they love their jobs, will absolutely serve as a top-talent recruiting engine for you, bringing in remarkable people with whom they want to work.

In other words, there is nothing better you can do to fuel your recruiting engine then improve the current experience for your people. Otherwise, even if you manage to get them in the door, they won't do their best work and they won't stay for long.

Dig deep to create a compelling place to work. Unlock the intrinsic motivators. This is how to make your best talent even better, and attract more of the best talent to your door.